Sirius Black (1959–18 June, 1996) was a pure-blood wizard, the older son of Orion and Walburga Black, and the brother of Regulus. Although he was the heir of the House of Black, Sirius disagreed with his family's belief in blood purity and defied tradition when he was sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin at Hogwarts School, which he attended from 1971 to 1978. He was murdered by his cousin Bellatrix in 1996